myrainasia

Promised to keep up to date in China and have fallen behind, yet again.  The good news is I was able to change my ticket (kudos to Eugenia at Airtreks- my round-the-world ticket brokers) and extend China for two additional weeks, so this took some of the pressure off my travels here.  But pressures there are many.  China is not an easy place in which to travel.  This is mostly due to the minimal English spoken here.  It is one thing not to be able to hold a conversation; it is quite another not to be able to figure out how to get somewhere because no one can give you any information and all efforts to pronounce the place you want to go are met with a shrug.  This is not to say that all of my encounters have been negative.  Sometimes people do the sweetest things and, for a moment, you forget how pissed off you were 5 minutes ago.  Like the guy who was going to walk me back to my hotel in Tangkou because it was after 10 pm and, apparently all of the taxis stop working before 10 pm.  Unfortunately I didn’t know the name of my hotel (definitely my fault for not having someone write it down for me in Chinese), and even though I knew where it was I could not communicate it.  I knew it was only about 5 minutes from the center of town; the problem was that it was a rather deserted 5 minute walk and  I was not ecstatic about doing it by myself.  Luckily, a taxi driver came by and, after another 10 minutes of negotiations (conducted by my new friend) he agreed to take me, and I paid him 20 yuan (about $3- or 3 times what the trip was worth) to drive me around the corner.  The plot thickened when I arrived at the hotel and found the door locked and chained. (Locking the door at night is not uncommon in Asia- chaining it up is.)  After yelling a bit, I managed to wiggle under the lock and between the doors at which point someone came down the stairs.  Next day they wanted me to pay for the broken door.  I knew better than to take a hotel room that’s not in the center of town, but it was right next to the bus station and they pounced on me when I got there.  One interesting thing I have learned in China- everyone speaks English when you arrive and before they have your money; afterwards, not a word. 

Ah,  but I digress.  This was to be the Yangtze River story.  I traveled on the President 6- Yangtze Paradise.  Against my desire I was on a Chinese ship.  But it was wonderful.  Also started out with a couple of glitches.  As I was being shown to my room I commented about how happy I was to have my own room.  The response was that I didn’t.  Hissy fit #1- especially since the woman who had booked it had gone through hoops getting me my own room at a negotiated price.  I showed them that my ticket was definitely for more than 1 bed in a double room, and after a bit I was shown to my room without a balcony.  That I was okay with- the absence of a refrigerator was what pissed me off.  At approximately $450 for 3 nights I really wanted a refrigerator.  The next morning I renewed my nudging and ultimately, paid an additional $10 for an upgrade to a lovely room on the next floor up with a large double bed, refrigerator and balcony.  Talk about your happy camper!

The food was really very good and plentiful.  The dining room had all round tables which seated 10.  I would estimate there were about 150 guests- about 50% Chinese, 30% a German tour group, and 20% assorted others with a fair sprinkling of Americans.  There were 2 tables of what were the assorted others and I ended up with a lovely young Swedish couple (who had won the trip based on a business plan they had submitted at their university), 3 Poles (2 men who were colleagues at a university in Poland, and the wife of one of them- 1 man spoke English fairly well and the wife of the other made charming efforts),  2 older German speaking Swiss men who did not join in the conversations much at all, and 1 British woman- Jennie (who I liked very much but who gave me an invalid e-mail address- if you read this Jennie, write!)  The other assorted-other table was all English speaking but it seemed rude to try and switch tables.  I enjoyed hanging out with Nolan (who managed to make it into many of my pictures for those of you who actually look) as well as with Connie and her daughter Cecilia.  Cecilia was lovely and I liked Connie a lot as well until she dissed me at the airport.  The English speaking group rounded out with 2 fascinating guys from Hawaii and the daughter of one of them, and a South African couple who swept up the dance floor.  The Germans pretty much kept to themselves and the Chinese did not speak a word of English and did a lot of hawking and spitting.

The Three Gorges were magnificent.  Much discussion was had about how much the water has risen since the dam was built and how much it will still rise before it reaches its final level.  Our guide at the actual dam (which was huge and very impressive and which would have been a lot more impressive if the day had been less hazy) told us about the wonderful relocations that were done to the million or so whose homes disappeared, but the westerners among us did a lot of wondering- like what about the cemeteries- since we all know that Chinese people are reverential to their departed ancestors.  Lots more questions, but none of us really dared to ask them.

Oh, back to the food for a moment- I was getting there before I digressed to the people.  The center of the table had a rotating platter and all of the dishes were served “family style” in large bowls placed on this platter.  Every meal had a batch of appetizers (which I often managed to miss) followed by a soup, 3 or 4 main courses, 3 or 4 vegetable platters, and, of course, all the rice you could eat.  Then a little dessert and fruit.  Most of the food was quite good and nobody ever went to bed hungry!

The cruise officially started after dinner hours the first night.  The second night was the captain’s welcome banquet and the third and last night was the captain’s farewell banquet.  Wonder what they do on a 4 night cruise.

Evening entertainment was sweet if not brilliant- cruise-like, not Vegas-like.  All of the staff went out of their ways to be helpful.  Seems the Chinese cruise ships have discovered tipping (the envelope with excellent English instructions that was placed in our rooms the last night perfectly resembled tipping suggestions back home- why nothing else does is an interesting question) and I think most of us (can’t speak for the Chinese group) obliged.

There were a few covered shore excursions and I paid for the one extra that was offered although missing it would not have been a tremendous loss except for the cutest tour guide I have had to date.  (Her English name- all of the Chinese that work with foreigners take English names- was Betty and I dubbed her Betty Boop.  She was a teensy little thing with a big smile, good English, and an adorable attitude and I wanted to tuck her under my arm and take her back to the boat.  When she overheard me talking about her, I explained what I had said (not in so many words) which caused her to break into that very Asian giggle and caused one of the other tourists to wonder if I had put her out of commission.) 

One of the other excursions involved taking another boat to an even smaller boat in order to have a little cruise down a side river.  This boat was propelled by 2 guys using oars and 1 guy giving directions.  This was all well and good until we got to the point where the water was too shallow to oar and they showed us how the guys pulled the boats around.  At this point we all felt like pampered rich people watching the slaves at work and most of us wanted to get out of the boat to lighten the load.  Very weird tourist attraction.  Our guide for this excursion was another lovely woman (who looked about 25 but was probably closer to 50) who sang for us on the trip back.  She had a lovely voice so I tipped her at the end even though I did not buy her book or DVD.

I stayed up the last night to watch us pass through 2 of the 3 locks (there are 4 but the last will not be used until the water reaches its final level) although you would think I have seen enough locks after the 17 or so we passed on my Russia cruise last summer (feels like it was about 10 years ago as opposed to last summer).  The last morning we got the tour of the Three Gorges Dam.  A good time was had by all.

Great cruise- worth the splurge.

Now I’m in Xi’an and tomorrow I go to see the terracotta warriors.  Thus, off to bed- which I had planned to do 2 hours ago.  Now I just owe Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huang Shan, and Hefei.  And I am storing up a batch of unrelated Chinese thoughts that I need to share when I have more time.

Stay tuned. 

Back at the internet because I am trying to change my flight out of China.  Unfortunately, Egyptair has yet to respond to my inquiry and they don’t have an office in Shanghai.  They do have an office in Beijing, but if I wait until I get to Beijing it won’t be worth making the change.

So I have some time to finish Yangshuo and the Yangtze River cruise.

Yangshuo was just as charming as promise.  It’s a complete tourist town- well, at least a large chunk of it is.  These artificial tourist towns or tourist enclaves (Vang Vieng in Cambodia, Nha Trang in Vietnam and Kho San Road in Bangkok spring to mind) have their pluses and minuses.  On the minus side, the “real” traveler knows this is an artificial set up that doesn’t or shouldn’t qualify as seeing the world.  On the plus side, they feel soooo comfortable.   People speak at least some English, the menus offer western food, often in language that actually lets you know in advance what you will be eating (BTW- pizza is a word that never gets mangled, although the options for what you can have on your pizza vary widely), and you meet oodles of other travelers with whom you can swap travel info and companionship.

Yangshuo is a tourist town, albeit one with Chinese tourists as well as Western ones,  nestled in this gorgeous physical setting.  There is a tourist office/travel agent on every corner offering various and sundry tours around the area.  I found a charming travel agent and made my first booking- a ticket to the Impressions show that is performed every night in Yangshuo (and employs at least half the town).  It was created and directed by Yang Zhimou, the famous Chinese film director.  It is performed on a small lagoon (seats are on land) and consists of various different scenes, most but not all involving small boats of some sort.  Best I can describe is Cirque de Soleil on water with less acrobatics,  more singing, and important lighting.  (You can see my photos of this and I think at least one of the videos actually uploaded.)  Very trippy and I enjoyed it immensely.  I also really enjoyed getting into an air-conditioned minivan for the 5 minute ride back into town.

The next day I took the full day tour to the terraced rice fields at Longsheng.  Lots of climbing up steps but totally worth it.  (Again, see the photos.)  Until the rain started during lunch.  The rain stopped after lunch which initially seemed like a stroke of good luck.  Ultimately  it turned out that the skies were just taking a breather between an easygoing Round 1 and the much more impressive Round 2 which hit after lunch as we were nearing the top of the mountains.  I, in my wisdom, declined the purchase of an umbrella (mine was comfortably sitting in our minibus at the foot of the mountain) or poncho, thinking that the rain would not last long.  Shmuck!  By the time I realized that I really should have bought an umbrella or poncho I was soaked to the bone and decided that, having reached 100% saturation, there was no point in buying either now.  Little did I realize that my plastic-seeming tote bag (purchased quickly in Hong Kong when my leather tote from home gave up the ghost) was completely un-waterproof.  I stuck a plastic bag over my head, which amused the locals greatly (or maybe it was the fact that I looked like I was entering a wet T shirt contest), and pretty much swam down the 8000 or 9000 steps, through torrents of muddy water,  to our pick up point below.  At least my $2 tire-soled Thai flip flops provided good traction and held up well.  This was the first time in my Asian travels that I asked the driver to please turn off the A/C.  When I got back to my hotel  (and, by the way, the rain had missed Yangshuo which was about 3 hours away) I had to blow dry everything.  This included a page by page effort on my passport which I essentially melted.  (Those blue covers are not nearly as hardy as they look!) 

Could have spent a lot more time exploring the sights around Yangshuo, but time was (and is) of the essence so, the next day I flew to Chongqing to organize my Yangtze River cruise.  Had pre-booked my hotel and was really happy with my choice.  The #1 most comfortable bed I have had in Asia.  You could even bounce on the bed without breaking every bone in your lower back.  Breakfast was included but it turned out to be Chinese breakfast only.  No coffee and foods that look more appropriate to me as dinner options. 

Chongqing is yet another enormous Chinese city with a population in the multi millions.  More huge skyscrapers, lots more neon, and apparently a whole lot of money because every name brand I could think of was well represented (Gucci, Prada, Rolex,……)  And there was coffee once I got into the center of town (although paying Starbucks prices for instant coffee with coffee creamer is still hard to accept even if necessary for an addict like myself).  Didn’t really see Chongqing because I was busy trying to get a cruise ticket.  Started off at the port which was a block away from my hotel.  There are a hundred little travel agents selling the Yangtze cruises, almost none of whom speak English.  The one that did informed me that he only took cash.  Since the cruise costs at least $400 to $500 for 3 nights (and, once again, it seems everything is negotiable), and the ATMs will not disperse that much money in one day, this did not seem very doable.

I left the travel agent and took off for the Inter Continental hotel which, I figured, had to have a booking office with an agent who spoke English.  It did and Yu Din (my spelling) spent the better part of a morning practicing her English with infinite patience and good will and we got it all done.  Unfortunately, my departure choices were 9 pm that evening (I had prebooked 2 nights in Chongqing and had hoped to see at least a little of the city) or Sunday morning (which meant booking a third night in Chongqing).  I opted to lose the $23 and take off.  Yu Din also booked my flight from Yichang (the cruise terminus) to Shanghai.  I wanted to fly to Xi’an, which was a whole lot closer to Yichang, but there were no flights.  Since flying domestically here is quite reasonable, I decided to hit Xi’an after Shanghai.  And then I went to scurry around Chongqing for the rest of the afternoon and prior to my 7 pm pick up.

I am now, apparently, blogging with a vengeance.  I am going to quit here since I did not see anything I wanted to see yesterday in Shanghai and the Yangtze River will just have to wait.

Okay, that title doesn't really mean anything, but cheers to those who understand the reference. Blogging today from Shanghai.  I arrived last night on a flight from Yichang.  Yichang is the main disembarkation point for Yangtze River cruises and I had a ... [Continue reading this entry]